We walked for around two more hours before I brought us to a stop. Three figures waited about one hundred feet in front of us. Hidden behind two trees and a large overturned log. It wasn't hard to figure out that they wanted to ambush us but they either hadn't realized we knew. Or didn't know how to deal with it.

"Aye yo I see you."

The trio paused as if they weren't sure if what I said was true or some kind of trick. Just when I was about to unleash my aura one of them stepped forward. This person looked human from what I could tell. Though his skin was a bit paler than I thought was healthy. A bit like a vampire though he didn't have the teeth or red eyes.

The person in front of me was thin and a bit on the scrawny side. He had a rapier on his hip and dagger strapped to his thigh. He wore some kind of leather armor but none felt like a relic. Nor did my eye reveal anything interesting about it. Based on his energy the trio were probably around level 30 maybe 35. "Good Evening. My companions and I had intended to kill you both in one decisive attack but that seems to not be an option."

"Well I must admit I am a bit impressed by your frankness and how polite you are being about it. Would you mind showing me what kind of token you have? If you don't have one I need there isn't much of a need for us to fight."

That must of have made them think I was weak because the other two revealed themselves. The one hiding behind the other tree was thicker. Closer to an average build with a shield in one hand and a mace made out of wood in the other. The third man had a bow that was already raised and knocked. All three of them were bald and covered in some kind of tribal tattoo.

"That won't be happening. The heaven's want us to fight. We want to fight and there is no better way to accomplish that than—" Xerxes growled to cut off the man and I didn't need to ask him to understand why. Neither of us were interested in hearing what the man had to say. Nor did we care. Instead I sent energy into the sigil for Inverted Dimension. I watched their energy travel to various points in their bodies but they were way too slow.

By the time whatever abilities they wanted to trigger were half full my newest spell took effect. All sound ceased as we were pulled into a sealed space. The world around us was no different than the forest at least not for me and Xerxes. Despite what it looked like we might as well have gone to a new world entirely. A pulse of energy spread out that solidified space and made it difficult for anyone to activate escape skills or treasures. It wasn't perfect according to Azariah and Desbera the ability completely seal of space wasn't going to be found in a 1st Realm cultivator's ability set.

This was still an amazing start. There shouldn't be anyone strong enough to break out in this trial and breaking wouldn't be easy. It was made harder by the second part of the skill. The trio attempted to attack me but ended up running away from us. Every step forward sent them backwards while every step in either direction sent them in the opposite. At this level the spell would randomly decide how space broke for the victims which kind of sucked.

When I added in **Realm of Consciousness** and **Manifestation of Perfection** though it didn't really matter. The trio became even more confused while their mental energy was drained away and their hearts were assaulted with everyone of their flaws. It was a bit fucked up to watch them flail about. The leader was only that remembered he was supposed to be fighting me but between the mist and the inversion he was forced to unleash attacks in random directions.

One of which caused a beam of condensed energy to shoot out of his sword and into the forest. The attack had enough power to punch a hole into every tree I could see. The big guy slammed his mace into the ground which caused an quake that nearly dropped them all into a hole. After a few more minutes I decided it was time to end this. I triggered Psionic Rain and conjured a handful of blades. The two followers died pretty quickly but a ring on the leader's hand shattered and a bubble of grey energy formed up to protect him.

Suddenly his eyes gained a clarity that wasn't there before. He glared daggers at me before grabbing and shattering his token. My attacks rained down on the shield but it was like trying to punch through steel. Whatever treasure he had used was more than enough to stop me for now. "You will pay for this!" The man snarled and disappeared from the trial.

I stared at the spot where he had been and sighed. That was definitely overkill which sucked. "Next time we should try to let them fight for a bit before we just hit them with our best shit. Especially since someone might have watched that."

Xerxes and I jogged up to the corpses. I collected their armor and storage bags while Xerxes sniffed at them. I considered taking their corpses but what would I do with them? They were way too human for me to consider allowing Xerxes to eat. Not to mention we didn't have enough cemeteries on earth for our dead let alone other people's dead. I decided to leave them there in their under cloths.

I collected their tokens and found that they both had a creature that looked like a rhino and tiger mixed together. It had the body of the tiger but the horn and skin of the rhino. The thing looked terrifying and part of me hoped to not find it. While another part secretly hoped to fight something interesting.

"Find anything interesting?"

"No food"

I shook my head at the Qilin and ended my spell. The world around us shattered like class. We returned to the real world a second later and I half expected to get attack. Nothing that exciting or interesting happened. Instead we found the forest as it was. We continued on our way like nothing had happened. We were attacked two more times. The first was a weird squirrel creature that could dig underground and the second was a man bat monsters. The thing was nearly five feet tall and tried to lift Xerxes into the sky. Something that earned it a spot in Xerxes' stomach.

Neither of those battles were what caused us to stop. Instead it was the massive tree hollow we had found. The tree was bigger than almost all of the ones on earth and could probably have fit a city in its branches. The hollow its self was filled with bones most of which were broken. "Do you think we should keep going or wait to see if something comes back?"

"*Wait. Big nest means big beast. Big Beast means a lot of food.*"

"You do know that we could end up being eaten by it right? I don't want to be something's food."

"*Then don't die.*"

I glared at the chimerical creature for a long moment before I shook my head. If we were going to be here for the immediate future it would be best to tidy up. Since I wasn't about to pick up whatever bones these were with my hands now was as good a time as any to get some psychokinesis practice in.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

It took me around two hours to move all the bones and other debris out of the hollow. A process that was made worse by the constant. "Give me food, give me food" from Xerxes. After the first hour I seriously considered how much effort it would take for me to launch Xerxes in the distance. Of course I wouldn't do that not only because I couldn't but because I still needed him.

"*Now that you are done picking up the dead things. Can we do something fun*?"

I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath. "No, we are going to rest. Since nothing came while I was doing that I am going to assume that the monster is either dead or its gone."

I sat in the middle of the hollow and unleashed my aura. It exploded out of me throw the forest in every direction. I could almost feel the other beasts take notice of my presence. I didn't want to start a new battle but this would hopefully make them stay back. Of course it might also draw powerful people here. Which as far as I was concerned was an win win situation.

I tossed Xerxes a pair of spirit stones and some meat to cultivate with before I did the same. I let myself sink into meditation and cycled the Ethereal Codex.

"Danger"

"What?" It took me a moment to process who was talking to me let alone what the voice had said.

"Danger!"

I bolted up just in time to see an arrow rocket toward me. I threw myself to the side and expanded my Tao to its maximum distance. Anger and confusion raged through me as I took in the seen. It was even darker than before but the enemies were lit up like bonfires. Another arrow forced me to take cover against the tree.

"Toss your token out, hand over your pet and maybe we let you leave with your life." I poked my head out in search of the voice only for a scream of danger to force me back. I scanned them through the tree bark and counted a total of five people. All of them were around my level which meant this might get tricky.

"Well nice to meet you to. I was wondering when a proper welcoming party would arrive. You mean telling me what token you have? It would make whatever comes next much easier."

Two of them started moving their energy into the right and left arms respectively. When I decided to make my move. Inverted Dimension and Realm of Consciousness triggered one right after the other. We were pulled into my personal arena. Five on two were much better odds for having a good time. I let my laughter fill the air adding to the atmosphere as the diamond from Manifestation of Perfection appeared in the sky.

I stepped out of my hiding place and unleashed Psionic Rain. Just as the indigo sun appeared a tidal wave of water exploded out of the man in the middle. My eyes widened and I barely had the time to brace myself before I was slammed into the tree. The wind was knocked from my lungs and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into the fetal position. The Eye of Heaven showed that two more skills were on the way.

I gritted my teeth and looked to Xerxes who unleashed a blast of flame from his mouth. The fire ball caught one of the warriors in the right arm. The energy in his body slipped out of his control and his scream joined the cacophony of noise. I activated Psychic Aegis seconds before something slammed into the Inverted Dimension from outside. Their leader stepped forward and removed a orb from his bag.

The energy packed into the orb warned me before my danger sense did. Under no circumstances could I let whatever that did happen. Two paths figuratively opened in front of me. One where I attempted to retreat and one where I pushed forward. I looked over at Xerxes and we didn't need to exchange words to know which was the correct answer. I grinned and reached for that part of me that thrived on battle.

I activated Apportation and compressed the portal to the size of my hand. Just big enough for the orb. The other end of the portal opened in front of the leader. There was a brief struggle before my spell won. The orb was ripped from his hands and into mine. I placed it into my ring not wanting to risk blowing myself up. Another impact caused cracks to spread throughout the pocket dimension.

My connection to both Inverted Dimension and Realm Of consciousness snapped like dried tinder as lightning rained down on the battlefield. I laughed as Xerxes rushed forward. Six psychic blades each imbued with my Tao rushed behind him. Xerxes roared just before he slammed into the closest cultivator. A tall broad shouldered man with a shield the size of door. The man went down but managed to stop Xerxes' charge. Not that it mattered. Less than a second later six bladed slammed into his prone form.

I barely felt the spiritual energy flow into me as I turned my attention to the others. The leader was a slender man with lightning arcing between his palms. He glared at me and I had to resist the instinct to rush him. Instead I activated Psychic Blast. A beam of indigo shot for him seconds before a beam of lightning came for me. The bolt slammed into my shield and exploded in a enough white light to blind both my normal eyes.

Fresh cracks spread through my shield as I conjured another sextuplet of blades. This time they were all imbued and invisible. Two shot toward the leader while the other four went to back up Xerxes who was covered in wounds. The qilin hadn't backed down from the battle and had ripped the arm off of a woman. Two blades slammed into the head of a man who was just about to plunge a spear into his stomach. The next set caught their archer square in the chest.

I couldn't confirm if he had gone down before another lightning bolt slammed into aegis. This time the shield completely shattered. I gritted my teeth as the remnants of the lightning slammed into me. My nerves were on fire. I had to circulate the Taos of Adamance and Lucidity stop from losing my mind. As soon as the pain faded enough for me to think six more blades formed like a halo behind me.

The leader's energy surged just as all six shot for him. Time slowed to crawl as we raced to kill each other. A barrier of blue lightning sprung into existence just in time to block four of my six blades. The first two caught him in the center of his chest. The man stumbled and I grinned. "I take it back. I don't really care what your token is." I called out and conjured a pair of floating orbs. My danger sense picked up as space somehow felt fragile. Almost like the membrane of the world could be broken if I pushed too hard. I put that thought to the back of my mind.

"Peasants should know their place." The man wiped the sweat from his brow as lightning arced all around him.

For the first time I found myself jealous. Lightning looked amazing. We stared at each other for a long moment before the ground began to tremble.

"Danger!" Xerxes' practically screamed into my mind before disengaging with the enemy.

I had tear my gaze away from the group to see what he was talking about it. I looked to the west but there was nothing. Still the genuine terror in his voice made me want to be safe. I pushed spiritual energy into the Eye of Heaven and wished I hadn't. A monster was slowly making his way over. The thing was about the size of skyscraper and its energy was at least two or three times my own.

"Is that" My mouth dried the creature looked toward me. There had to be at least two miles between us yet it felt like it could reach out and touch me.

I took a step back as the creature bounded toward us. My spiritual energy flooded into Apportation. "We should go. We should all go." I turned to other group just as they were engulfed in a burst of lightning. "Sons a bitches." I turned and stepped through the portal along with Xerxes.

We skipped five miles in an instant and it still didn't feel like enough. We sprinted as fast as we could for another three hours before I felt calm enough to stop. The adrenaline had long worn off and my entire body ached. We ducked into another tree hollow. This one was empty thank god. "Are you alright?"

"Pain, Lots of pain" He dropped into a heap on the forest floor. I scratched behind the scales on his shoulders. Not sure if that would be same for Qilin and dogs nor did I care. I placed three healing pills into his mouth and then I took two.

"Next time it would be wise to avoid a five on two. I assume you couldn't kill any of them?" I switched to mental communication just in case whatever that was could hear this far.

"No, I took one arm and three fingers." The pride in his voice was enough to make me laugh. I wasn't sure how regrowing limbs worked but there was no way they could do it quickly let alone easily.

Once the majority of his injuries had healed I laid back in the dirty. The mixture of exhaustion, excitement and terror made me want nothing more than to get some genuine sleep. "*Can you watch for now? I want to get a nap?*"